05 May, 2010

MILOS STUPAR ACQUITTED OF GENOCIDE, BOSNIAN COURT

The Office of the Prosecutor did a sloppy job with a half-baked indictment focusing only on the Kravica massacre, and ignoring other war crimes that Stupar's unit committed before and after the massacre (period 1992-1995).

PHOTO: Video grab of Milos Stupar's appearance in frontof the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina on 5th May 2010.

Today, the Appels Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina acquitted a Bosnian Serb wartime commander, Milos Stupar, of Genocide, quashing an earlier 40-year prison term on grounds of insufficient evidence. In 2008, Milos Stupar - along with six other Serbs - was convicted in connection with the Kravica massacre, where Serbs slaughtered more than 1,000 unamed Bosniaks in July 1995. He appealed against the verdict successfully, prompting the appeals chamber to annul the earlier verdict and order a retrial two months ago.

"The evidence does not indicate that Milos Stupar was a commander who had effective control over those who allegedly executed the crime. Stupar was not with the Second Squad prior to July 14, 1995. He took over the command function on July 14 because Rade Cuturic was wounded. In order to be able to sentence someone on the basis of his command responsibility, it must be proved that he exercised effective control over his subordinates. For this reason, Stupar cannot be held responsible for crimes committed under Cuturic's command on July 13," presiding judge Azra Miletic said.

The vidence in the retrial showed that Stupar took command of the genocidal Serb unit on July 14, 1995 - just a day after the Kravica massacre. Apparently, he replaced "Rade Cutura", who got injured while killing more than 1,000 Bosniaks in Kravica. Therefore, Stupar could not have prevented the killings the day before.

We would like to know, what was Milos Stupar doing before and after the Kravica massacre and why wasn't he charged with other counts of war crimes that his unit committed in and around Srebrenica from April 1992 to July 1995? The Court has not answered that question and the Office of the Prosecutor did a sloppy job with a half-baked indictment focusing only on the Kravica massacre, and not other war crimes that Stupar's uniti committed before and after the massacre.

According to ICTY's transcripts archive, Richard Butler (who also testified in the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina on behalf of prosecution in a case of Milos Stupar et al) stated the following [note: Rade Cutura, aka "Oficir", participated in the Kravica massacre and got injured during the slaughter of unarmed Bosniaks, so he sought medical help on 13 July 1995]:

"This is item number 1490, reflecting an individual Rade Cuturic. He came into the medical centre at 1740 hours on 13 July 1995. He is a -- from Sekovici and is identified as a member of the MUP special brigade. In fact, as the information has indicated as part of my report, I don't have it as an exhibit, but Rade Cuturic is in fact the deputy commander of the Sekovici special police detachment. It reflects that he was also wounded at Kravica and he's suffering from burns on the palm of his hand. Closing the book on Mr. Cuturic, within a month he becomes the commander of that detachment and I believe in late August, early September, he is killed in combat on Mount Majevica. Continuing to entry 1491, it indicates the admittance of Krsto Dragicevic, also a member of the special police brigade from Skelani, wounded at Kravica and in fact deceased. / see: Vidoje Blagojevic, Transcript: 13 November 2003."

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Srebrenica Genocide is not a matter of anybody's opinion; it's a judicial fact recognized first by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and subsequently by the International Court of Justice.